The head of government in Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami, reached an important marker. With him at the helm, the state approved the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) bill – a first-of-its-kind move that might motivate other states run by BJP to do similar. The UCC makes certain every citizen in India follows the same laws; it clearly takes out religion from big matters such as marriage, ending marriages, who gets property when someone dies and taking children into one’s family legally.
The Chief Minister, Dhami said, “This bill does not try to target anybody; it gives everyone equal rights in things like marriage, looking after someone financially, who gets what when somebody dies and divorce. The main goal of this law is to remove unfair treatment towards women because of their gender.”
Chief Minister Dhami emphasized that the bill aims to strengthen gender equality for the benefit of society and he strongly expressed his deep gratitude for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s firm support.
People who did not agree, especially a special group from the assembly, at first wanted to say no to the law. But after it gets approval from the Governor, this new law is a very big step in Uttarakhand since they became free. This place will be the first one to have the same rules about marriage, divorce land ownership and passing on property for everyone no matter what religion they follow – it also shows an important move towards equal rights under law inside its area.
Chief Minister Dhami has said they will make changes to the UCC later, so we can deal with new needs when they come up. But it is important to say that this law does not have plans for controlling how many people there are and also doesn’t involve The Scheduled Tribes, who are just 3% of the people living in Uttarakhand.
Prakash Ambedkar, who is BR Ambedkar’s grandson and the head of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, sees Uttarakhand’s UCC bill as a deliberate highlight on what BJP plans before the Lok Sabha elections. He warns about putting in place UCC; he points out constitutional parts—Articles 25 and 26 from our Constitution—that protect freedom of religion by allowing people to choose a religious way within basic rights limits. He says that if big changes do not happen in the Constitution, the government does not have the authority to make UCC mandatory for people.